When a couple with children divorces, custody arrangements must be established. There are two types of custody: physical and legal. Parents can have joint or sole custody, and custody arrangements can vary. Legal custody concerns decisions about the child’s education, religion, and medical care.
When a couple with children chooses to divorce, child custody arrangements will need to be established. Firstly, there are two types of custody that are discussed in court and will be agreed upon with the help of lawyers: physical custody and statutory custody. Within each of these two custody agreements, it will be necessary to determine whether the parents will have joint custody or whether one parent will have sole custody.
Within custody arrangements, it need not be the same for both types of custody. For example, one parent might have sole physical custody, but the parents might share legal custody jointly. Again, this is something that will need to be sorted out with the help of divorce lawyers and will be written into the divorce agreement. If one parent fails to comply with the divorce agreement, the other parent has the option to take it back to court.
Physical custody is the first half of custody arrangements. It refers to the parent’s right to have their child live with him or her. If a child lives with only one parent and occasionally visits the other, this could be a case of sole physical custody with visitation rights. If, however, the child divides his time living with both parents, this is referred to as joint physical custody. While the latter is a little more common, every single case is different. Of course, there is also the case where the other parent is not allowed to visit, in which case sole physical custody will be given to the other parent.
Of course, within physical custody agreements, there are many nuances that parents will need to work out. For example, children might spend weekdays with one parent and weekends with another; the school year with one parent and the summer with another; or even specific days of the week with different parents. It depends on the individual situation of each person and the closeness that the parents experience with each other.
The next part of custody agreements is legal custody. This refers to the right of the parent or parents to make legal decisions concerning the child, usually in relation to educational choices, religious education and medical care. Again, parents can get joint legal custody, or one parent can get sole legal custody, depending on a number of factors. When developing foster care arrangements, it is always best to put the needs and best interests of the children first.
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